1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of material wastes, organic contaminants, water waste, and organic waste, and the conversion of such waste and contaminants to easily disposed materials by using biomass treatment, such as active or bacterial biomass to convert organic materials into primarily gaseous waste products.
2. Background of the Art
The safe disposal of waste or contaminating materials has been recognized as a significant health and economic issue for many years. The ability to merely dump raw materials into the oceans or landfill materials is no longer an acceptable mechanism for disposal. Not only do landfills face a limitation on space and require significant energy to transport and deposit materials, but they are recognized as either potential health hazards and ecologically destructive of their locations and adjacent land areas, especially because of underground seepage of materials. It has therefore become recognized that methods of disposal, especially or organic materials, must convert the materials to more readily tolerated products, whether solid, liquid or gaseous in final form. Certain technology has used collection of natural gas decomposition product collection from landfills to more efficiently use landfills, and this is an economic benefit, but still requires the use of new or existing landfills and does not reduce the volume of solids that must be landfilled. Incineration of materials has also come into disfavor because of the emission of gases directly into the environment, and even after scrubbing, noxious or even toxic materials (in addition to volumes of carbon dioxide) are undesirably emitted into the atmosphere.
One system that has been developed to assist in the conversion and disposal of organic waste materials is referred to as the active biomass conversion process in which organic materials are fed to an active, bacterial mass that digests the organic materials and converts them into gaseous wastes that may be collected or more easily and safely disposed of than are solid and concentrated liquid products.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,821,425 (US EPA) describes a biomass concentrator reactor as a gravity flow-through system, as opposed to a conventional pressure or vacuum system. The advantage of the biomass concentrator reactor of the present invention is the use of gravity flow, which makes possible operational simplicity and significantly reduced operation and maintenance costs. The capital cost of equipment is very low because there is no need for pressurization. Biological treatment of any contaminated liquid stream is greatly facilitated by maintenance of a long sludge age and retention of a high biomass solids content.
The patent utilizes a gravity-flow biomass concentrator reactor comprising an intake for water to be treated, said intake leading into a housing enclosing at least one porous barrier having pore sizes such that water permeates through the porous barrier under the pressure of gravity, said porous barrier comprising an aggregate of polyethylene beads, and wherein substantially all suspended solids in the water are retained by the barrier, and an outflow from the housing through which treated water flows. The porous barrier has pore sizes ranging from about 1 to about 50 microns.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,838,000 (Braun) describes an activated sludge tank (7b) which allows the necessary concentration of active bio mass in the oxidation apparatus to be appropriately adjusted depending on the day profile of the amounts and loads of the accruing black water in conjunction with an oxygen supply adjusted to the demand (7c), in order to ensure a constant drainage quality. This leads to a substantially smaller dimensioning of the reaction volumina and a more stable course of the process compared to that of the prior art. The process can be computer-controlled and/or can be DFU-(remote data transmission)-controlled. Operation can be monitored by sensors. The demand-dependent and controllable bio mass concentration in the oxidation apparatus could have an influence on the special requirements of the process of the invention. For instance, the sharp rises in acidity and/or the accumulation of HNO2−N in the oxidation apparatus could be counteracted by an appropriate supply of active bio mass and/or Nitrobacter-enriched bio mass from the activated sludge tank. This also enables the plant when adequately controlled to adapt to the day profile of loads even in the case of the smallest reactor dimension. The patent specifically describes a method of treating sewage which reduces nitrogen concentrations in, and the size of, bio gas plants; said method comprising: separately collecting black water; selectively performing liquid/solid separation of said black water by membrane filtration; and performing anaerobic fermentation of solids of said black water.
The following patents provide a narrower view of wastewater treatment systems with nutrients for bacterial digestion of sold matter, and each is incorporated by reference for its disclosure of bacteria, methods, apparatus, components and materials: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,863,826; 6,846,343; 6,838,000; 6,797,500; 6,737,020; 6,719,903; 6,682,578; 6,660,164; 6,632,650; 6,630,197; 6,630,067; 6,514,411; 6,508,078; 6,503,746; 6,398,959; 6,383,389; 6,342,378; 6,203,701; 6,197,081; 6,190,566; 6,168,717, and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,903 discloses a major benefit of a control scheme comprising an ORP (oxygen reduction potential) sensor inventive control scheme is energy efficiency. The control scheme supplies the required horsepower to increase oxygen supply when necessary and conserves energy when the demand is lower. Another extremely important advantage of this control scheme is that it may prevent sulfur compounds from reducing and producing unwanted and very foul odors in addition to keeping the production of unwanted volatile fatty acids to a minimum. The process is for the aerobic treatment in a biosolids treatment reactor of a biosolids solution comprising the products of waste water treatment and thermophilic bacteria capable of digesting mesophilic bacteria. The process comprises: (a) mixing a portion of the biosolids solution with an oxygen-containing gas stream using a jet aeration device; (b) monitoring at least one physical property indicative of oxygen demand of the biosolids solution; (c) adjusting the mixing of biosolids solution with the oxygen-containing gas stream by the jet-aeration device such that sufficient oxygen is supplied to satisfy oxygen demand, wherein the monitoring step comprises monitoring the temperature and the oxygen/reduction potential of the biosolids solution.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,660,164 and 6,036,862 describe only that if the ORP (oxygen reduction potential) is allowed to reduce enough to allow anaerobic bacteria to thrive, sulfides can be produced from wastes containing sulfates and/or organic sulfur containing compounds. This will yield sulfides in the bulk liquid. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is partially soluble and insoluble, and as the H2S is produced above its solubility level, it diffuses out of solution and into the offgas. This is a normal aspect of anaerobic systems and the amount of sulfides in the bulk liquid and H2S in the biogas must be monitored and controlled to achieve maximum treatment performance. The sulfides level in the reactor bulk liquid is determined using wet chemistry techniques, while the H2S level in the offgas is determined using the H2S sensor 176.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,701 similarly describes that a major benefit of a control scheme comprising an ORP sensor inventive control scheme is energy efficiency. The control scheme supplies the required horsepower to increase oxygen supply when necessary and conserves energy when the demand is lower. Another extremely important advantage of this control scheme is that it may prevent sulfur compounds from reducing and producing unwanted and very foul odors in addition to keeping the production of unwanted volatile fatty acids to a minimum.
These systems have minimum automated controls and are deficient in their ability to handle multiple sources of organic products.